Hit men, a boxer, the gangster's wife and free popcorn

That's got you interested! Or perhaps just the picture of that famous poster did. Except I don't hang around with hit men (although the owner of the corner store where I get my ciggies on credit could turn into one soon), or boxers (OK, my grandfather was one) or gangsters (that too could be debatable). But I did get free popcorn and lots of it!

So, Monday night was spent at the Grand Daddy Hotel at The Pink Flamingo roof top cinema. I was sent an email in the morning asking which movie would I like to see with the choices being Casablanca, Rocky Horror Picture Show or Pulp Fiction. All iconic films and nice to be given a choice. My choice was in the order they gave them as I last watched Casablanca as a kid, watched a Rocky Horror re-run years ago and watched Pulp Fiction again a week ago. I got a mail back later saying the first two were out of the DVD club, so Pulp Fiction it was. I then got a mail from Big Tom's Mom to say that she couldn't make it to the movies. Something about husband working late and kid needing fetching from creche. There's always something with parents of small children. And they wonder why suddenly their friends stop asking them out to stuff. Note to parents - your childless friends who have all the fun don't invite you out anymore because you are likely to cancel! It's not personal... Anyway, I digress, there's content there for a whole other blog (if I don't get beaten to death in my sleep by my child-rearing friends)...

I ended up getting The Viking to join me - he's single (and childless) at the moment. Perfect. We both love popcorn. Naturally, first stop upon arrival on the rooftop was at the bar. There was mention of free gluwein after all! Unfortunately the gluwein had just run out ( they went scuttling downstairs for more) but the comforting smell of popcorn made up for that. We grabbed a packet and then went to grab our seats. The gluwein arrived shortly after and with blankets over our knees and heaters overhead we sat contentedly munching our popcorn and watching one of the greatest cult movies of modern times.

It was great! Where else can you go to the cinema and drink gluwein, go to the bar when you feel like it (OK, the Labia serves alcohol too) and even have a smoke on the sidelines whilst still watching the movie. They did try gas us out at one point (perhaps they were trying to stop us lighting up our ciggies), but the rest of the heaters kept us super warm. They also ran out of sweets before we got there, but this was more than made up for by the endless packets of popcorn that kept arriving. In fact while Uma Thurman was OD-ing on heroin and frothing at the mouth I was OD-ing on popcorn with pretty much the same effect. The movie also jumped and got stuck a few times (as DVD's do), but no matter. In the shower scene I got to see just how shaven Bruce Willis really was. Really. No hair. Anywhere.

As we were leaving, The Viking said "It's only in Cape Town that you can do cool stuff like this." Perhaps that is true, but then again I live in Cape Town so am biased. What is true is that The Pink Flamingo Cinema is a fun concept and a novel way to go catch a movie. We got the R60 ticket which includes the movie, popcorn, gluwein and sweets. Considering what a movie and popcorn will cost you in a standard, overcrowded, musty cinema, it is great value. You can also get a gourmet picnic ticket (the food in those hampers looked and smelt amazing) and one that includes a night in one of their famous airstream trailers.

We enjoyed it so much that we are going back with a group of friends. You should too. But get in early as we are planning to book it out next time...

"Just because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character." - The Wolf